Dining with World War II Veterans

flyinglentris

flyinglentris

Disabled and Retired Veteran
Joined
18 Dec 2017
Local time
9:36 PM
Messages
5,689
Location
USA
Allow me to call attention to the fact that within the next 10 years, we can expect the last World War II Veteran, from all nations that were involved, to expire. Honor them in these last 10 years. They truly are "The Last Great Generation."

DiningWithWWIIVets00.png


DiningWithWWIIVets01.png


DiningWithWWIIVets02.png

DiningWithWWIIVets03.png

DiningWithWWIIVets04.png

DiningWithWWIIVets05.png

I have known many of the veterans who appear in these photos and many more. Not all are WWII, but include Korean War and Viet Nam War veterans as well. Some who appear here have already expired.

Our WWII vets here in the US are top notch people.
 
A few years after Dad died Mom had a friend who was a WWII vet. He actually served in the Merchant Marines on ships carrying fuel to Navy ships and land installations. For many years the Merchant Marines were not considered veterans. Fortunately that changed before Art died.

If any of you ever visit NOLA include the WWII museum on your itinerary. DO book a viewing of the movie narrated by Tom Hanks early in your visit. The movie is an experience and adds to the appreciation of the museum exhibits.

We have an excellent ambulance service that was started by Vietnam veterans in the late '60's. The original EMTs were Vietnam Core Men and Medics.

I honor and appreciate all uniformed services - Military, Police and Fire Fighters. When I see a person in uniform I make a point of thanking them for their service. If there is a uniformed service member in a restaurant I will pay for their meal.

I served six years active duty USN and 16 years USN Reserves. When our world blew up on 9/11 I was at my reserve center in Orange, Tx. To say that we were traumatized is an understatement. The thing that brought me to tears was for the first time in all of my years of service I was thanked for my service.

G travels a lot and brings home hotel soaps, shampoo, conditioners and lotions. They go to the Veteran's Hospital. Not a big deal to you and me but a big deal to our veterans who are frequently alone and lonely.

I am speaking to my fellow Yanks. Many of you are retired and have time to spend. Cook up a batch of soup or stew and bring it to a Veteran's Home/Hospital. Take an hour out of each week to visit with our forgotten heroes. These "Old Warriors" deserve our respect and appreciation. A few minutes of your time to shake a trembling hand and say thank you means more than you can imagine.

Forgive me for my rant - I am passionate about showing appreciation to our uniformed service members.
 
Thanks for posting this. My dad would have liked to see it. He passed away at the end of 2016, and I miss him terribly.
A funny story in his life was how he learned to speak with several American accents. While born in the US, his father took him back to the family farm in Ireland when he was an infant, and he was raised there until just before WWII when the now much larger family moved back to the States.
In the Spring of '44, he was one of the many Americans that were sent to finish their training in England before Operation Overlord.
While based there, he would go into the local town for a pint with the other American GIs on days that they had leave.
Like a story from an old movie, he got to falling in love with a local girl, but she told him that her parents would never accept him with his Irish brogue, let alone that he was an American only there for a short time. So, to try to meet them halfway, he learned to fake a Brooklyn accent, and a Pennsylvania/mid-western accent (his unit was from Pa.), and a southern American accent.
None of it ended up mattering as far as the girl went as this was all over on 6/6/44, when he went into Normandy as a medic.
But to the end of his life, the only time you could hear his Irish was when saying grace at dinnertime, or when he was really, really angry. LOL.

Miss you, Dad.

And yes, thanks to all who saved our bacon 70+ years ago. God bless you and keep you.
 
I don't know whether any of you have seen the breaking news about a gunman holding 3 hostages at the California Yountville Veterans Home, but be aware that the photos I posted here were taken at that home. I once lived there, but left because of a lot of criminal activity among the staff. I don't know whether today's events are related.
 
flyinglentris said:
I don't know whether any of you have seen the breaking news about a gunman holding 3 hostages at the California Yountville Veterans Home, but be aware that the photos I posted here were taken at that home. I once lived there, but left because of a lot of criminal activity among the staff. I don't know whether today's events are related.
Click to expand...

That is horribly co-incidental @flyinglentris. Seems that it was a war veteran who had previously been made to leave the home who killed three senior staff members.
 
Last edited:
My father served in WW2 from '39 to '45 - he served in Norway and later with the American forces under general Clark at the Anzio landings and in the taking of Rome and that is almost all I know. He never spoke of it - never collected any campaign medals and I suspect wished to forget what he had seen but looking back I am sure he never did.
 
morning glory said:
That is horribly co-incidental @flyinglentris. Seems that it was a war veteran who had previously been made to leave the home who killed three senior staff members.
Click to expand...

I do not know the three staff who were killed or the vet involved. I do have to think twice about this whole incident. That man was in their care obviously, because he needed their help and more obviously, it is reported that they declined to help him. In so doing, they created a problem that came back to them. This particular vet, more than many others, most especially needed their help and because he was just that,, these staff clearly did not want the burden and dismissed him from their program. We all should regret what happened, but let's not fail to ask why this happened.

While I was at Yountville, I saw staff taking less concern about the vets than did about padding their income. I had to report criminal activity to authorities where certain staff were promoting drug and alcohol use and by so doing, creating groups of bad vet social commiserants who spent their time in self abuse and bad mouthing everything from their fellow vets, staff and the facility. They stirred contention among their fellow vets and that eventually came back on myself while I was there. There are incidents talked about of theft of deceased veterans property, donations to vets from outside and State of California property. I was super happy to find a way out of there late last year.
 
sidevalve said:
My father served in WW2 from '39 to '45 - he served in Norway and later with the American forces under general Clark at the Anzio landings and in the taking of Rome and that is almost all I know. He never spoke of it - never collected any campaign medals and I suspect wished to forget what he had seen but looking back I am sure he never did.
Click to expand...

You are talking about 6 years of your dad's life that were particularly harrowing. Certainly, his very soul is tarnished by those years and that cannot be erased from memory. Many war time vets will not talk, even to other veterans, about their service in those times. Understand their pain and that they don't wish to relive it.
 
morning glory said:
It was quite recently then that you were there? Was the centre of any help to you at all or was it all a bad experience?
Click to expand...

When I first arrived there, it seemed a slice of paradise for vets to recover and cope with their geriatric decline and other issues. My health actually got worse allowing the California State Medical treatments and I soon declined to allow them to do many things and took the bus to the Federal Veterans Administration facility in San Francisco for those things and improved. If I hadn't taken charge of my healthcare and refused service for certain things, I'd probably be in a wheel chair with feet and legs amputated and god only knows what else. It's a joke that everybody in the San Francisco VA knows goes on, but can't do anything about since it is governed by the State of California. I'm glad to be out of there.
 
flyinglentris said:
You are talking about 6 years of your dad's life that were particularly harrowing. Certainly, his very soul is tarnished by those years and that cannot be erased from memory. Many war time vets will not talk, even to other veterans, about their service in those times. Understand their pain and that they don't wish to relive it.
Click to expand...
Very true - my wife's father was in Africa and the middle east [Tobruk and El Alamein] and he never spoke of it either. Even those in London who lived through the blitz often have nothing to say. Only sometimes do the 'funny' stories surface - the rest remain buried and maybe it is better so
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom